Miller Magazine Issue: 116 August 2019

53 COVER STORY MILLER / AUGUST 2019 Today, especially in the food sector, sustainability and traceability are two very important facts. Therefore, process control is vital in the milling plants where tons of production are made per day. Automation is a must for quality and error-free production in those plants. What opportunities and advantages does automation offer to flour mills? What kind of solutions can information technology and operational technology offer to millers? We asked these questions to Mr. Syed Ashraf, Vice President of Automation and Electrical Engineering at KICE Industries, a leader in process system programming. Hav- ing worked in the automation field for 25 years, Mr. Ashraf explained the benefits of automation and shared his views on future mills. First of all, could you please provide us with some brief background information on KICE Industries and its activities? Kice Industries designs complete industrial air systems and builds most of the equipment specified for these sys- tems. Applications include pneumatic conveying, dust control, and aspiration systems. Kice’s Automation division provides services which include power distribution, controls engineering design, PLC/HMI programming, UL® control panel fabrication, electrical installation, and 24/7 on-call support. Automation is a must for quality and perfect produc- tion. What opportunities and advantages do automation systems offer to flour mills? Automation provides mills aid by removing variability. In flour mills, it is capable of continuously monitoring produc- tion streams, for variances in production rates and quality. Dips in rates and quality can be monitored, and in some cases, corrected upstream automatically. Automation also offers trending and historical data to help management find the most efficient methods for production. Equipment con- dition monitoring can provide an early indication of immi- nent machinery failure, providing the opportunity for planned maintenance, and improved uptime. How do automation systems affect the yield of mill- ing plants? With automation: -Systems can react to changing variable without delays or need manual interventions -Information can be presented to operators, engineering, and management to review control variables to drive con- sistency -Operators are not required to be in front of each control point to make adjustments -They help meet regulatory compliance as well as quality and/or safety What are the basic principles of a properly function- ing and designed automation system? -Consistent production output -Higher availability -Operators adjust variables rather than controls